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CBT for Intolerance of Uncertainty and Chronic Worry

Intolerance of Uncertainty & Chronic Worry

Advances in Cognitive Therapy

The Uncertainty of Things

Copyright (c) Donald Robertson, 2010. All rights reserved.

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. (Hamlet)

So said Hamlet, in Shakespeare’s play, whose quest for certain proof regarding his father’s murder drove him into depression, anguish, and interminable procrastination, until his hand was eventually forced by the ultimate “deadline” – he was poisoned and took decisive action just before he died. Hamlet’s plight resembles that of the typical modern psychotherapy patient whose irrational (“neurotic”) demands were well-understood by Albert Ellis, the founder of Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). Ellis identified one of the most common dysfunctional beliefs as “There is invariably a right, precise, and perfect solution to human problems and it is catastrophic if this perfect solution is not found.” (Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy, 1962).

In recent decades, there has been increasing interest in the notion that “intolerance of uncertainty” may play an important causal role in the development of pathological worry. Attitudes of intolerance to uncertainty have consistently been found to correlate with the presence of worry. Worry is common to many forms of anxiety and depression, but particularly central to the diagnosis of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD). A number of studies have produced mounting evidence for the importance of intolerance of uncertainty as a trait linked to GAD and other problems. For example, paradoxically, researchers have found that some chronic worriers actually prefer certainty about a negative outcome happening to uncertainty. Perhaps once these individuals know something bad is going to happen they feel able to resign themselves to planning how to cope, whereas uncertainty keeps them on edge. Moreover, there is some evidence of causation as intolerance of uncertainty has been found to chronologically precede the development of worry as well as correlating with it.

Traditional cognitive therapy for anxiety has struggled to treat these cases successfully. Cognitive therapy for GAD originally emphasised re-evaluating the probability of a feared outcome, which chronic worriers tend to find difficult and unconvincing. Whatever the estimated probability of danger the inescapable element of uncertainty will often be sufficient to maintain an ongoing process of worry because it continues to trigger “What if?” questions about hypothetical catastrophes, which may become distorted over time. The psychologist Michel Dugas has been especially responsible for promoting this concept of “intolerance of uncertainty” within CBT, although it has now been assimilated by Aaron Beck into his cognitive model and treatment of GAD. Treatment outcome studies have provided evidence that Dugas’ approach, based on acceptance of uncertainty, is more effective than traditional CBT for generalised anxiety, with 77% of chronic worriers being significantly better at the end of treatment.

A situation which is problematic and characterised by uncertainty triggers “What if?” questions, which lead to catastrophic predictions about uncertain future events, and evolve into a process of worry, focused on uncertain future threats, and cumulative anxiety. Questions tend to maintain attention, sucking you in further, and “What if?” questions tend to involve negative predictions about the future, creating a state of prolonged mental absorption in different negative possibilities. This tends to be linked together as abstract verbal thoughts in worry, almost like a kind of negative self-hypnosis. The chain reaction begins with our response to uncertain threats, however, and it’s at this point, perhaps, that we can nip it in the bud before “What if?” thinking develops into pathological worry. Otherwise, the “What if?” question mark is like a little fishing hook that keeps our attention snagged.

Dugas describes intolerance for uncertainty, metaphorically, as a kind of allergy. Some people are just more “allergic” to uncertain situations than others and react with more worry and anxiety. People who can’t tolerate uncertainty typically “lose the name of action”, like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and tend to procrastinate and avoid attempting to solve their problems. They hold out for certainty, conclusive evidence, and a “perfect solution” and are unwilling to adopt an experimental, trial and error, approach by testing out imperfect solutions until they find something that works. Some things are simply unknowable and some uncertainty is inescapable in life. Refusing to accept that fact keeps worry going pointlessly and fuels anxiety.

Reduction of Uncertainty

People who are intolerant of uncertainty, feel like they “must” overcome it, and tend to try compulsively to reduce uncertainty in their lives. In particular they may seek reassurance from other people, think about things repeatedly, or try to find information from sources like the internet. However, this quest for certainty seldom leads to satisfaction and people who suffer from chronic worry show a marked tendency to waste considerable time and energy in futile and repetitive attempts to find a “perfection solution” where none can be found. The search for certainty also tends to lead to procrastination and avoidance because taking action might involve risk and uncertain outcomes, and intolerance of uncertainty is associated with being risk averse. Increasing everyday exposure to “uncertainty”, or “uncertainty inoculation”, involves systematic “behavioural experiments”. These experiments require decreasing or eliminating one’s attempts to reduce uncertainty, like reassurance-seeking, repeated checking, over-preparing, and excessive information searches.

Treatment

The alternative to compulsive certainty-seeking and intolerance of uncertainty is, of course, acceptance of uncertainty and a commitment to taking action, where necessary, in the face of uncertainty. Dugas’ treatment protocol for GAD consists of five key components,

Worry awareness training involves keeping a daily record of worry topics in order to spot when they arise and what the main themes are

Coping with uncertainty by reducing attempts to reduce uncertainty and carrying out behavioural experiments where uncertainty is deliberately embraced during prescribed activities

Problem-solving training, especially developing a positive and confident attitude toward problems, seeing them as challenges rather than threats, but also developing specific planning skills

Imaginal exposure to core fears, which reverses mental avoidance by asking the client to repeatedly visualise the feared catastrophic outcome and accept their feelings until they reduce

Traditional cognitive therapy is adapted to evaluate the evidence for and against beliefs that certainty can be achieved or a perfect solution found. The client is asked to carefully reconsider their reasons for believing that uncertainty about specific problems can be reduced or eliminated, that living with uncertainty is intolerable, or that one has sufficient control over future events to achieve a perfect solution to certain problems. According to psychologist Robert Leahy, author of The Worry Cure, challenging positive beliefs about worry may involve evaluating the pros and cons of worry about specific matters in detail to identify the difference between helpful and unhelpful instances of worry. This will often lead to the realisation that some problems are hypothetical, distant, uncontrollable, or unlikely, and not worth worrying about. Others are more imminent and concrete and may demand a solution, although worrying is usually less helpful than systematic problem-solving.

Problem-Solving / Imaginal Exposure

Hence, Dugas and his colleagues ask clients to distinguish between worries about current problems and those related to hypothetical situations, i.e., problems that are actually solvable in practice and ones that are not. Solvable problems are tackled using a version of traditional problem-solving therapy (PST), which involves cultivating a positive and confident attitude or “orientation” toward problems, getting in the right mind-set to start working on solutions. This is followed by the four typical steps,

Definition of problems and goals

Brainstorming alternative solutions

Evaluation of consequences

Action planning and solution implementation

Problem-solving, which goes beyond the “action planning” stage, to solution implementation, will inevitably require that worriers reverse their procrastination and avoidance, and usually entails accepting, and acting despite, some degree of uncertainty and risk.

Problems which are not suitable for practical problem-solving are addressed using a version of imaginal exposure therapy, in which the worst-case scenario is repeatedly visualised in concrete terms for prolonged periods, of around 30 minutes, until the anxiety naturally abates due to the process known as “classical extinction” or “habituation”. This is a bit like saying that by facing your fears repeatedly, for long enough, without distractions, you will tend to grow bored with them and get used to the feelings until they wear off and diminish. Accepting anxiety as harmless, temporary, and natural, seems to aid the process of extinction, whereas being ashamed of feeling anxious or trying to suppress your emotions and battle with them tends to maintain the problem and prevents the natural process of overcoming fears from following its normal course.

Comments

CBT for Intolerance of Uncertainty and Chronic Worry — 9 Comments

very useful information , thoughtful and practical with literary support from no less a greta person as Shakespeare. very useful for OCD also. There is nothing certain in this world,true and everything may be unrealized fiction . Using imagination to create situations one is afraid of will “certainly” !!! be useful to habituate and thus accept uncertainty. CBT is tremendous. Please publish more articles in the same line which will be useful for millions of people. Thank u

Thank you for a most thought provoking and valuable article.
Iam lead therapist for an organisation dealing with individuals affected by suicide and murder ,and I intend to use your information in our treatment protocol .
Thanks again
FinC

This article blew my mind. I have been suffering from chronic worrying as long as I can remember. I’ve tried Sertraline to no avail, and I’ve seen a clinician who thought I had severe OCD and I will need to be on pills for the rest of my life. I’ve also seen a psychiatrist who said I don’t have OCD and the clinician was incorrect, and that I don’t need to take any drugs whatsoever. However, the paranoia and worry didn’t stop. My googling CBT and GAD (which I concluded I have because nothing any doctor said made any sense) led me to this link. I feel hope that finally, someone understands my problem. Here’s hoping this is a step in the right direction.

Glad you found the article helpful. GAD and OCD can be similar and easily confused, although they may also frequently be co-morbid, i.e., occur together. It’s better, usually, to seek a professional diagnosis rather than self-diagnose, although you’re right to consider the label you’ve received for your problem as clinicians often misdiagnose. There’s an excellent self-help book on worry and GAD called The Worry Cure by Prof. Robert Leahy that will provide you with a lot more information. I’m sure you’ll find it clarifies things. You can find the official DSM diagnostic criteria for GAD described on our LondonCognitive.com clinic page below,

I ended up buying “When Panic Attacks” by Burns, written in 2007. I’ve flipped through a few pages of it, and it sounds promising. However, when you said traditional CBT might not be effective at fixing this specific form of GAD, do you think I should just get “The Worry Cure” instead? Does at least one, or both of the two volumes above touch on this problem?

Also, the former book mentions Exposure Theory as 1 of the 3 ways to treat worry drug-free, saying you should face what you fear. But this article seems to mention doing it via imagination might work, which I think would be far better. Unlike bridges or shopping malls, I fear actual people I don’t want to associate with anymore in my life. Any thoughts?

The first thing you need to do is establish what sort of problem you’re experiencing because the choice of treatment or self-help methods will usually depend upon that. Panic attacks are very different from GAD and chronic worry, and the CBT procedures used are essentially quite different. The Worry Cure would be more relevant to GAD, if that’s definitely what you’re experiencing. Exposure therapy is one of the most reliable strategies available for anxiety of different types. The way exposure is used for panic attacks is very different from its use in treating GAD, though. Exposure in reality (“in vivo”) is generally a bit more effective than in imagination (“imaginal”) but for some issues the latter is the most pragmatic choice available.

Ideally, you’d have a therapist to guide you. Failing that, though, it’s best to carefully consider different approaches in books to see which one best describes your problem before settling on a therapy or self-help strategy to use.

Indeed, it is truly worry I suffer from, not really anxiety. Just recently I’ve worried about the same thing for 8 months now with only irrational, albeit convincing, paranoia as my “worry fuel”. That’s right, 8 months! It is tiresome. As mentioned in your article, I’ve asked about 20 different people their thoughts, which were unanimous that I “don’t need to worry about it”. But as you guessed, it was a temporary relief cause I wasn’t 100% convinced. And guess what happened: something smallish that they and the professionals thought wouldn’t happen did… which automatically justified all my other worries. Another big cognitive mistake.

Anyways, I’ve had a couple panic attacks but they were the result of thinking about “what if” scenarios with no in-between for months.

From what I just wrote above I can conclude that anxiety for me only happens due to the excessive worrying, so I’m not fearful of panic attacks from unknown sources.

It really sounds like The Worry Cure could help me. I only use the term “anxiety” because it’s so prevalent in this field. But really, I think this article focused on “worry”. GAD should really just be GWD, or perhaps a new field focusing on worry alone and not phobia anxiety should be forged.

Lastly, I would like to explicitly state that I’ve done every one of the worry behaviors in this article, and I have suffered from everyone of the symptoms too. It is 100% relevant to my situation. I’m excited for the rare few of other people like myself who might find their way here. Due to the fact that none of the psychiatrists I saw had any clue what I was going through, despite me explaining it as clearly as possible.. I think this article and the research used to make it will be a breath of fresh air for many in the near future.

So glad to see this. My anxiety seems to be so deep seated, I fear I will never be rid of it. This article is encouraging, but it feels so wrong to think in new ways, I keep slipping back into the old comfortable ones. Owe it to myself to keep going, but so hard. Sometimes it’s just easier to accept that I will worry forever. Easier than to keep fighting!

Worry is a normal part of life, so it can’t be eliminated completely of course. However, research on different treatments has generally shown that most people, even those with very severe and chronic worry, can reduce the frequency, duration and intensity of episodes and its impact on their life. So there is quite a lot to be hopeful about as long as you seek the right kind of help. Struggling against worry tends to have the paradoxical effect of making it worse, so the knack is generally to learn to accept worry if it happens without becoming too absorbed in it or prolonging it. That takes practice but it’s not a difficult skill once you get the basic idea.

Regards,

Donald Robertson

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